donrobinson

Looking good, those holes are called scuppers

Super Cool!! Congratulations Grant, job very well done

Those blocks sure look good Dave

Looking good, those holes are called scuppers

Super Cool!! Congratulations Grant, job very well done

Super Cool!! Congratulations Grant, job very well done

Super Cool!! Congratulations Grant, job very well done

Super Cool!! Congratulations Grant, job very well done

Hey Chris, how the heck are you? Good to see you back!! I have been a little absent myself as of late so not much new to report. I have started a Ragusian Galley which I have not started a log yet for, but I am thinking of doing so.
The snow has been gone here now for about two weeks and the fire bans are on already!!! Very dry here also.
 As for your channels when you say "on the wales" do you mean the top edge of the wales? If so that is quite common.
Take Care Bud

Nice work on the deck Doug. When it comes time for the mast holes be sure to do some very careful measuring off of the plans. As your hole size allows use small dowels to help locate the mast steps to keep yourself aligned then gradually enlarge hole using larger dowels as you progress.
 Keep up the good work.

Congratulations, she is a beauty!!

Congratulations, she is a beauty!!

Superb work Dave

Superb work Dave

Amazing build Ian!!! You are da Master. Going to be hard to ever go back good old walnut after being spoiled on all that boxwood.
Take Care my friend. What's up next?

Congratulations!!!

Beautiful model!! Congratulations

Wonderful work, I've just caught up on your build after months of being away from the forum. Looking forward to seeing more

Wonderful work, I've just caught up on your build after months of being away from the forum. Looking forward to seeing more

She should look real good with your choices of wood

Congratulations, very nice

The weekend proved to be a little fruitful and a little work was accomplished on the Station:

Gunport sills are being added to the frames. Frames and sills are made from cherry
 

The sills are made over sized then need to be trimmed flush to the frames
 

The final product
 

Frames are erected and glued into place
 

 

 
Installing the lower deck has begun, deck planks are made from maple
 

 
Here is a picture of the planks while still in their billets
 

 
Lower deck completed completed with one coat of wipe on poly applied
 

 
Installing the top moulding, this is an extra we added to the plans. The moulding is made from swiss pear with a strip of maple glued into a groove that was cut
 

Here is how it looks now. Woods used are ebony, boxwood and swiss pear. am now deciding whether to stop any further planking. I like the cherry frames so much that I hate to cover them entirely up. 
 So until I decide on this that's it for now.
 Thanks to you all for the interest, comments and likes. Have a great Day!!
 
 

And the last few pictures for now:
 

The carriages completed
 

Bolts, rings and cannons added
 

Partially rigged sitting on the cherry wood base I intend on using.
Thanks for having a look and if you want to see more please visit Doc Blake's log as he is much further ahead with his and is doing a beautiful job. I would place a link here for it but I am not sure how do do that

This will be my log on building the 17th Century Battle Station based on plans by Jeff Staudt. This was a joint effort by three of us to develop this model and they are Mike Shanks, Doc Blake and myself. Doc did all the milling work on the wood, Mike supplied the expertise and skills on the cnc and laser machines and I did the turnings and whatever metal work that was required. The model is not entirely historically correct, however, does make into a nice model for display. We did do some minor changes to the plans and things, such as the grates, we did a little out of the norm but it was all out of fun and experimentation.
 Doc Blake has a log already started here so if you haven't visited his yet you may want to as his has a more detailed description of the process. His writing skills are much more advanced than mine, I am finding that with everything else with my body and mind the writing skills are also slipping away. I am not using spell check for single syllable words yet but I am sure it is not too far in the future!😉
 I must also apologise ahead of time, I did at one time have extensive pictures of what I have done(such as turning the cannons) but seem to have misplaced them. If I do ever find them I will post, in the meantime I will continue beating myself.
So let's start:

Here is a rare shot of one half of my shipyard, I say rare as it is never this clean. I am starting my build a little different while I wait for parts to come from Mike, I will be doing the cannons and carriages first.
 

 
Another rarity, and that is a picture of the cannon turning. Unfortunately I have none of the actual brass cannons being turned. With the 1/2" brass rod being over $30/ft I made several ( around 😎 of these first out of wood first, carefully documenting all steps and measurements.
 The process I finally used was to first drill the trunnion hole on the mill move to the lathe mount in chuck face the blank and drill out the bore. From this point on it is a good idea to not remove the blank from the chuck until completion. Next is to set the angle of the headstock then start turning as per the determined steps and dimensions. 

 
Here are some pictures of Mike's laser and cnc machine. I had the opportunity to visit Mike this summer in North Carolina to see these in action, they are just incredible what they are capable of. Mike's wife has a home business called "Well Written Gifts" where they are etching everything from wine glasses to cutting boards and numerous other items, to watch these in action is a real treat.
 

 
Mike sent some prototype carriages to try with the wooden barrels
 

 
And here is the final result, there are two different sized barrels both on the same sized carriages, not historically correct I'm sure but will work for this model as that is what the plans called for
 

 
Now for the real thing, cut from boxwood
 

 
Here I am drilling the quoin for the handles
 

 
And drilling the axles
 

 
Drilling the back bed that supports the cannon, this should be drilled completely through
 

 
And drilling the front support, which also needs to be drilled completely through. I did not realise until too late but I should have only drilled halfway through then flipped it and completed the drilling, these tiny bits tend to wander.
 I am at my max fifteen pics so I will be right back!!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks Danny